Online Church Part 4 "Solitude is Desirable"
Solitude is Desirable!
Finally, consider this. God has allowed the world to go through this challenging time. He is allowing us as a church to experience it. And you can count on the fact that there is a reason. (Maybe many.) There are things we can learn.
One of those things may be our need for solitude with God. How are you handling the “shelter in place” order? Are you distracting yourself to death like the rest of the world? Is your Netflix account going to run nonstop for the next couple months? Are you upping your social media addiction from 8 hours a day to 24? Are you diving deep into the news cycle?
There are countless examples in the Bible where we see Jesus, the prophets, and others going (voluntarily or not) into a period of solitude with God. This is a good thing. Yes, we do need our Christian fellowship, but we need God more. And I believe that our current Christian culture is deficit on the God side of the balance. Don’t overload people with Christian distractions to compete with the World’s. Provide them with the assistance they need to get closer to God. Not closer to each other or the church, their “life-group,” or their pastor. We need to teach more Christians how to be alone with God.
So, let’s do this! We are living through what is likely to be an historic change in the way the church accomplishes its mission in the world. Such changes are always a little scary, but the scarier prospect is missing out on what God is doing. Don’t do it in an effort to maintain the status quo; but take the opportunity to change your church into something that much closer to the God-given vision for you church!
Finally, consider this. God has allowed the world to go through this challenging time. He is allowing us as a church to experience it. And you can count on the fact that there is a reason. (Maybe many.) There are things we can learn.
One of those things may be our need for solitude with God. How are you handling the “shelter in place” order? Are you distracting yourself to death like the rest of the world? Is your Netflix account going to run nonstop for the next couple months? Are you upping your social media addiction from 8 hours a day to 24? Are you diving deep into the news cycle?
There are countless examples in the Bible where we see Jesus, the prophets, and others going (voluntarily or not) into a period of solitude with God. This is a good thing. Yes, we do need our Christian fellowship, but we need God more. And I believe that our current Christian culture is deficit on the God side of the balance. Don’t overload people with Christian distractions to compete with the World’s. Provide them with the assistance they need to get closer to God. Not closer to each other or the church, their “life-group,” or their pastor. We need to teach more Christians how to be alone with God.
So, let’s do this! We are living through what is likely to be an historic change in the way the church accomplishes its mission in the world. Such changes are always a little scary, but the scarier prospect is missing out on what God is doing. Don’t do it in an effort to maintain the status quo; but take the opportunity to change your church into something that much closer to the God-given vision for you church!
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